Author: Thorsteinn Mar

5 ways to avoid game master burn-out

5 ways to avoid game master burn-out

Posted by | Jun 5, 2018 |

There comes a time for every game master that she feels her hunger and enthusiasm dwindle. Even that she feels wasted and all her ideas depleted. Game masters burning out is something that happens quite often and though some manage to push through there others that give up and even give up roleplaying for years. Here are a few tips to avoid burn out. I’m hopelessly addicted to roleplaying. I’m a part of three groups and usually play twice a week. This might seem a lot, but as I said, I’m a roleplaying junkie and this is my fix....

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What makes 5th edition great

What makes 5th edition great

Posted by | May 27, 2018 |

The 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons was published in august 2014 and has been a huge success. Many fans believe the 5th edition to be the best edition ever published. But what makes this edition great? I still remember when I bought my first D&D player’s handbook. It was the 2nd edition AD&D with a cover by Jeff Easley and if I’d only spent half the time on my studies at that time in my life as I spent browsing that book I would probably be a rocket scientist now. D&D was the first roleplaying game I learnt...

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Black Void – A new Danish Fantasy RPG

Black Void – A new Danish Fantasy RPG

Posted by | May 19, 2018 |

Lately we’ve seen a lot of new Scandinavian roleplaying games. So far, most of these games have come from Sweden but that might be changing. Black Void is a new Danish roleplaying game that was successfully funded through Kickstarter recently. Growing up as roleplayer here in Iceland in the 90’s, there weren’t that many roleplaying games to choose from. Sure, we had AD&D, Cyberpunk, World of Darkness, Shadowrun, Call of Cthulhu and of course the only Icelandic roleplaying game Askur Yggdrasils. There were a few eccentrics that mail ordered lesser known games, like Kult or Warhammer Fantasy RPG, but...

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Midgard, Iceland’s first all-inclusive convention

Midgard, Iceland’s first all-inclusive convention

Posted by | May 10, 2018 |

Midgard, Iceland’s first all-inclusive convention, will be held at Laugardalshöll, in Reykjavik, september 15th and 16th, a weekend of board games, video games, cosplay, table top games, comics, artists, movies, tv series, books, and more. Midgard is Iceland’s first all-inclusive convention, which means there will not be a strong focus on any specific genre or fandom. The goal is to be a home for fans of Video games, board games, cosplay, table top games, comics, artists, movies, tv series, books, and anything else. Of course, there will be many roleplayers there and there will also be something related to roleplaying games. We’d love to see...

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Trudvang Chronicles – Player tips and inspiration

Trudvang Chronicles – Player tips and inspiration

Posted by | May 7, 2018 |

Trudvang Chronicles is a great fantasy roleplaying game. The setting is heavily influenced by Scandinavian lore, the sagas and medieval poems, as well as Celtic legends, like Beowulf. The setting doesn’t have many similarities with D&D and such fantasy roleplaying games. Here are a few tips for players and pointers on where to seek inspiration for Trudvang games. I must admit, I really like Trudvang Chronicles. The setting is right down my alley and has everything I love about the Viking era, the Icelandic Sagas and the Scandinavian medieval poetry (like Hávamál and Völuspá). Of course, there are a...

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Creating interesting traps and puzzles

Creating interesting traps and puzzles

Posted by | May 1, 2018 |

Traps and puzzles are almost essential to a good dungeon crawl. They can add greatly to the atmosphere and make things very exciting. However, it’s easy to solve these with simple skill rolls. Here are a few ideas on how you can make traps and puzzles even more interesting. I must admit, I like a good dungeon crawl. No, I really like good dungeon crawls. I think that is the ultimate form of D&D and a well designed dungeon has all three pillars of a good fantasy RPG; combat, exploration and roleplaying. A huge part of the dungeon crawl...

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Tips on becoming a better roleplayer

Tips on becoming a better roleplayer

Posted by | Apr 24, 2018 |

There are many ways to enjoy roleplaying games and most of us take part in games as players. We all know players who are great to play with and perhaps some who are not as fun to have in the group. Here are 8 tips on becoming a better roleplayer. I’ve been playing roleplaying games for more than 25 years and I’m still learning. Every time I meet a new player or a new game master I learn something. Mostly I am discovering things about myself. What kind of player I am, how the other players perceive my characters...

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10 tips to become a better Game Master

10 tips to become a better Game Master

Posted by | Apr 17, 2018 |

Do you sometimes watch the superstar dungeon masters and wish you could be more like them? Do you often ponder how your games could become even better. Here are 10 tips to become a better game master. I’m on a constant lookout for blogs and posts about game mastering. Even after 25 years of gaming I still feel I’m learning and watching game masters like Matthew Mercer, Chris Perkins or Kim Hidalgo makes me want to get even better. So, here are a few things that I have picked up through the years and have helped me seeing what...

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Railroading is not always a bad thing

Railroading is not always a bad thing

Posted by | Apr 8, 2018 |

Many roleplayers frown upon railroading and in the last few years the sandbox setup for adventures and narratives has become something that many game masters strive for. But is railroading always bad? Are plots that are heavily linear worse than plots of sandbox modules? Last week I ran a game in a high school, as part of a fantasy and science fiction course. During a break in the game, the teacher in the course who partook in the game told me about his favourite roleplaying session. It happened to have been run by a fellow Yawning Portal author, Helgi,...

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The MP who plays D&D

The MP who plays D&D

Posted by | Apr 3, 2018 |

Bjorn Levi Gunnarsson is an Icelandic MP for the Pirate Party but also an avid roleplayer. He says that being a roleplayer can be really helpful while working in the Parliament. Perhaps more politicians should be roleplayers? Let’s hear from the MP who plays D&D. A little while ago we had a small roleplaying convention in Iceland. As such, Icelandic roleplaying conventions are small and most of the participants know each other by name. Still, many great games were played there and the convention was one of the largest for years. One of the participants frequenting these conventions, both...

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